Main characteristic
The Cooler film has been released in 2003. It is an American drama directed by Wayne Kramer that also has participated in writing of original screenplay together with Frank Hannah. In gambling cant the term 'cooler' is used to describe an extremely unlucky person whose presence at the casino table threaten bad luck to other gamblers. In spite of the innumerable moments with poker involved it definitely appears to be one of the love films with gambling matter. However, the film represents all colors of the famous gambling capital of USA, the director has depicted atmosphere of excitement and tension perfectly. Thus, it hardly might be a mistake to refer The Cooler to Vegas movies. The film had a budget of $ 4 million and rose to more than $8 million in the US. Its worldwide box office has reached approximately $ 10.5 million. The Cooler has received lots of positive reviews from critics and the obvious appreciation of Baldwin's performance.
"Love ...you have to play to win"
Bernie Lootz is used to be unlucky. Through all his life the fortune doesn`t appear on his horizon. It explains why the man is so dreary, especially taking into consideration his gambling passion and his age. He is actually so unlucky that perfectly fits the role of 'bad luck deliveryman' at Shangri-La casino. The matter is that Bernie is indebted to the boss of casino - Shelly Kaplow and the last understands that there is one way to force looser to give the money back. Moreover, he gets the idea that Lootz appears to be very profitable employee for casino`s budget.
However, Bernie`s career is jeopardized when the waitress Natalie, a girl of luck, shows her sympathy to him and saves him from fatal bad luck. When the man almost pays off his debt and plans to leave Las Vegas with beautiful waitress Shelly and his bosses from mafia, to put it mildly, show their dissatisfaction. They doesn`t want to lose such useful hand.
Brilliant performance
The cast has been selected skillfully and actors matched their characters amazingly. The wonderful Alec Baldwin`s acting just cannot be unnoticed. The actor has created a complicated, ambiguous image and he did very elaborate work to depict all features of Shelly`s temper. His performance had been appreciated not only by audience but proved by many awards. Baldwin, for instance, was nominated as the Best Supporting Actor with Academy Award and Golden Globe Award, etc. He won the National Board of Review Award, Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award and Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award.